Paromita Mitra, a MSU engineering student, wants to be an astronaut. She competes in Las Vegas Sunday for the Miss USA crown.

Written by

LaReeca Rucker
lrucker@jackson.gannett.com

Miss Mississippi USA Paromita Mitra wants to be the first Miss Universe to explore the universe.

Mitra, a 21-year-old Mississippi State University aerospace engineering student, is competing in the 2013 Miss USA Pageant airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on NBC.

"I can specifically recall not being able to speak English and pretending that I could," said Mitra, who moved from Bangladesh to the U.S. with her family in 1992. Three years later, the family returned to Bangladesh but eventually came back and resided in Mississippi. ...